Ok, so I'm an idiot

I stopped counting calories & weighing my food in May...Initially gained a few pounds, but then just ate whatever & whenever I felt like it, not even weighing myself

The problem? I think my body doesn't exactly have a good idea of how much & how often I should eat...
Basically, when I started counting again in August - I was surprised to see that instead of 1500-1600 calories I was averaging 1100-1200... bad, I know...
I upped my calories back to 1500-1700.. even worse, I gained 2lbs since August 26th and now appear to be maintaining, I'm 5'3 and 161lbs, 19 years old...
I used to be able to lose up to 2lbs a week while averaging 1550 calories on normal days, 2000 calories on active days

So what should I do? Try eating my "maintenance" calories for a few weeks (somewhere around 2000), or keep eating 1500-1700?

Try 'resetting the bar' with your maintenance calories for two or three days.... http://www.bcm.edu/cnrc/bodycomp/bmiz2.html  If you're not sure how much that is then this site can be helpful.   'Activity' means anything that isn't 'sitting down' rather than formal exercise.

At the same time.... Make sure that what you're eating is as wholesome and nutritious as possible.  Plenty of vegetables, fresh meatfish, wholegrain foods and so forth rather than too many sweets and heavily processed foods.  Reason being that 'fluid retention' can be quite high in people with a poor diet that lacks fibre and nutrition whereas people with a healthier diet don't suffer from it quite the same way.  For similar reasons dodge caffeinated, alcoholic or fizzy drinks in favour of more fresh water.  If you like salty foods try to reduce the amount of sodium in your diet.  If you like sweet foods try to reduce the amount of sugar in your diet.

When you go back to weight-loss deduct only 500-700 cals from your maintenance intake.  And also try to be more active since this means you'll burn energy at a faster rate all day long, not simply when you are doing the exercise.

Keeping your food log sounds like a good idea.  Try to get into a good routine with your healthy eating as that is a lot easier to carry on with long-term rather than calorie-counting.  Get into the habit of knowing what is the 'right' portion-size for foods, for example.

Thank you for the reply - I will try eating maintenance for a couple of days
(it tells me I need 1820 for inactive or 2220 for low activity, so I think I'll eat somewhere between those two numbers...)

Right now I'm averaging 34 grams of fiber & 30 grams of sugar a day, 2100mg of sodium.. I'm guessing my salt intake could be a bit lower?

I remember when I first changed my eating habits - dropped 10 lbs in a week on 1600 calories (pretty sure almost all of it was water)
I used to eat so much bad quality food it makes me cringe when I think about it

Original Post by noxie:

(it tells me I need 1820 for inactive or 2220 for low activity, so I think I'll eat somewhere between those two numbers...)

 Go with 2220 and don't pull your punches....  Unless you're actually bedridden you're unlikely to be 'inactive', frankly.   Your fibre, sugar and sodium numbers are fine... no need to change those.  Make yourself tasty, good quality foods, eat regularly and drink plenty of fluids.... enjoy the 2220 period and then resume weight-loss on about 1700-1800 - no lower than that.

Ok :)

Thanks for the advice